“Yes, sir! and the old ladies in charge of Black Hall is more ’stounded than you are, sir; being ’stounded to that degree that they sleep with the dogs in the room; long of ’em.”
“This should be seen to. There should be a vigilance committee. But here we are at the path, Joe, and my wife is still in a deep sleep; and I do not wish to wake her; nor can we drive the cart through the thicket. Hold! I’ll tell you what we can do. We can take the mattress by its four corners, and carry her on it to the chapel. If we are careful, we need not even wake her,” said Mr. Berners, as he stopped the cart and got down from his seat.
Joe tied the two saddle horses to one of the trees, and came around to the cart to help his master.
Between them they cautiously lifted the mattress, and bore it along towards the opening of the path.
On first being moved, Sybil sighed once and turned over and then she fell into a still deeper sleep, from which she did not again awake even when they bore her into the dreadful Haunted Chapel, and laid her down, still on the mattress, in the old place, to the right of the altar.
“Poor child! She was so tired, so worn out in body and mind, that she could scarcely sit her horse. Yet she never once complained, nor should I have even surmised the extent of her prostration, were it not for this coma-like sleep. She will not wake now. We may safely leave her alone while we go back and bring our saddle horses here, for we must bring them in order to hide them to-day and use them to-night. And you, Joe, after you have helped me to bring the horses through the thicket, must go to Blackville and buy food and bring it to us to-night before we resume our journey.”
“Yes, sir; and meantimes, there is some crackers and cheese and sweetmeats, and likewise a bottle of port wine, in the cart, as you left in the chapel when you went away.”
“Oh, indeed! that will be a godsend, Joe! We must bring that back to the chapel with us when we come,” said Mr. Berners, as with his servant he bent his steps back to the thicket path.
Sybil, left alone in the interior of the haunted chapel, slept on soundly for some little time. She had not really been quite unconscious of her removal thither. She had half waked on being taken from the cart, but had immediately fallen asleep again; though she was still vaguely conscious of being borne along to some place of safety and repose, and that her devoted husband and her faithful servant were her bearers—vaguely conscious also of being laid down upon some level place of perfect rest, with a roof above her head; but beyond this she knew nothing, cared nothing, being too utterly prostrated in mind and body to rouse herself to any utterances, or even to save herself from sinking to sleep.
How long she had slept she never could tell, when at length she was suddenly and fearfully aroused—aroused to a degree of wakefulness that neither the noisy jolting over the rocky road, nor the painful dragging through the thorny thicket had been able to effect.